


It's Four A.M., I'm at The Hospital & I Need You Now

by radiowrittenheart



Series: Branches [1]
Category: Descendants (2015), Disney - All Media Types
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Exes, F/F, Fluff, Late Night Conversations, Oneshot, and the magic of friendship, but they're total bros about it, it's cute and there is a baby and gay ladies, there's something of a plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 03:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6687511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radiowrittenheart/pseuds/radiowrittenheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben and Mal have a heart-to-heart while waiting. Evie gets a Princess instead of a Prince, and under completely different circumstances. Contrary to what you might believe, this is actually a very happy story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Four A.M., I'm at The Hospital & I Need You Now

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ruff_ethereal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/gifts).



> Because I'm weak.

At this point, it was Mal who needed to be physically restrained. All the stories she had been told were exaggerated, probably as a scare tactic. But she couldn’t help it at this point; her pacing was a channel of her own nervousness, and perhaps it had been sending the vibe to the doctors. Then again, it also could have been the sparks of magic unwillingly coming from her fingertips. It was a tic, it’s not like she had control of it…

So here she was, confined to the waiting room. And there she impatiently sat, in a chair that seemed too slummy to be in an Auradon hospital, biting her nails. Either the clock was spelled frozen or time seemed to slow down in a case like this, she wasn’t sure. Either way, it was driving her crazy.

There were murmurs at the other end of the room, but Mal didn’t bother looking up.

That is, until a certain someone plopped down in the row of the chairs across the way from her.

“You look straight out of the Underworld,” was the first thing past Mal’s lips. At least she meant it in a bluntly loving way. “Can’t even be trusted to dress yourself or brush your hair, Your Highness.”

Running a hand through his scruffy hair, Ben shrugged. “The phone was ringing off the hook,” he muttered. “I had to have the nurses repeat it to me five different ways; ‘you’re needed at the hospital’ and I hung up on them when I figured it out.”

Honestly, though, it did seem like he just rolled out of bed - while the same could be said for Mal.  They were both disheveled in appearance, from their unkempt hair to weary eyes. And obviously, the lazy apparel that were so-called pajamas had to have been the biggest giveaway. When her gaze darted between the both of them, Mal laughed for the first time in what felt like hours. She seemed a little less tense, the brutal gnawing on her nails beginning to slow down.

“Yeah,” she said softly. “I just … need a support system right now before I zap one of the doctors.”

“Did you bite any of them?”

“No…?”

Ben smirked, pointing to himself. “Guess who’s dad did that?” he asked.

Mal smirked. “Are you _ sure _ you were born after his transformation?” she joked.

Giving nothing but a nonchalant shrug as a reply, Ben leaned back in his seat and folded his arms. He craned his neck to look at the clock, glancing at his closest friend. “How long have you been waiting?” he pondered.

“Too long,” Mal replied. “We got here at, like, midnight - _ I don’t fucking know _ ,” She groaned, rubbing her temples.

“Hey,” Ben said softly, looking at her with sincerity. “Just wait a little longer. It’ll be fine. Enjoy your last few minutes and all,” He smiled at her, with that smile of his that could have cured diseases and brought the sun out at this ungodly hour. “Still can’t believe the big, bad Mal is gonna be a mother.”

A soft  _ “yeah” _ escaped Mal as she curled up on the seat, expression going blank.

“You’ll do fine,” Ben assured.

Mal could only nod. She knew she’d do well enough - plenty of jousting from Jay and Carlos dubbed her as something they liked to call the ‘Mom Friend’, whatever that meant - she was just worried about Evie at this point. Her wife, all alone in that cold, white hospital room with a bunch of strangers. And their kid, the one that they had basically gone through the Underworld and back just to create…

...and one part of that equation sitting right there with her.

Her most unlikely ally, and one of her closest friends.

“Did I ever,” Mal trailed off for a moment. “You know, properly thank you?”

Ben smiled, giving a nonchalant shrug. “Did you have to?” he retorted.

Mal hesitated. “I probably should have,” she said. “So thanks. Because it wasn’t just Evie who wanted the kid. I liked  _ the idea _ of it, I didn’t think it was possible. That’s all,” She played with a loose thread on the chair’s cushion. “Now,” A sigh escaped her, tuning into the fizzy, static loudspeaker of the hospital.

“I figured you might want someone to lift your spirits,” Ben quipped. “I hope you don’t mind  _ me _ … being here,”

“ _ No _ ,” Mal assured. “You were, like, one of the first people I told the hospital to call. Jay and Carlos are taking their own sweet time getting here…”

Then, the unspoken question hung in the air - told by one single eyebrow raised by Ben.

Mal swallowed hard, eyes focused on the hardwood floor. “I don’t want my mother here, even if she could be,” she said stiffly. “She’d just try to … I don’t want to know what she’d try to do. But the kid’s innocent, just like I used to be. She got to me, and I won’t let anyone get to my kid.”

She rolled her eyes at Ben’s laughter, and he grinned at her.

“Sorry,” he said. “But seeing you fuss over a baby, it’s kind of amusing.”

“Yeah, I should be setting a curse on it already,” Mal playfully shot back.

Another silence hung in the air, a comfortable one, but it still seemed too long. Too much. Too painful and anxious. So of course, Ben would be the one to shatter the thin plane of it.

He cleared his throat, gaze wavering on Mal. “I just figured you should know before it’s too late,” he said, his voice slightly shaking. “By law and .... everything else, your child is going to be in line for the throne. I don’t want to produce another heir, but if you and Evie aren’t comfortable knowing he or she is royalty, don’t hesitate to let me know.”

Mal let out a soft laugh, shaking her head with a smirk. “We figured that one out a while ago,” she said. “I’m fine with it if that’s what the kid wants when it’s older - Evie’s thrilled for us to have a Prince or Princess.”

“She didn’t give you any hints at all of what they are?” Ben chuckled.

“No,” Mal said. There was a pause, hesitance, before she stared at Ben in awe. “She told _ you _ , didn't she?” She scoffed in disbelief at his clever little smile, and slumped in her seat like a five-year-old. “I’m gonna practice my grounding skills on her.”

It was quite a sight to see, puzzling but heartwarming. Two close friends, with quite the backgrounds and history, on the verge of a life-changing event. Finally, a nurse that resembled a fairy glided in the room, gaze dodging between Mal and Ben.

“She needs to be in there,” he spoke up, smiling at Mal. “I’m just the support system.”

This time rolling her eyes in amusement, Mal got up - but not before Ben gave her another dumb, witty smile that let her know he was for sure up to something.

“By the way,” he added. “Evie told me she liked the names Scarlet and Willow.”

“You could have said spoiler alert,” Mal said before following the nurse into the back hall of the hospital.

Okay, it wasn’t cold. The thermostat of the waiting room was probably just busted from her magic outbursts, that was the whole reasons doctors had kicked her out. But now, Mal seemed calm and cool as ever, ready for this. Whatever it was.

Life, she assumed.

She was led to a place where there was a row of crib-like items. She figured there were so many from when the hospital was in it’s heyday, twenty-something years ago. But right now, there was only one baby there.

Hers, obviously. Well, her’s and others, to be correct.

Still, though.

Mal felt her breath escape her as the nurse picked up the newborn. Somewhere inside of her, where and why she wasn’t sure, screamed for this stranger to put down her baby. They did. Sort of. By instinct, Mal knew her arms opened up, and there she was. As she had always called it, ‘the kid’ was actually a baby. There was a difference. And she couldn’t take her eyes off the fussy bundle in a pink blanket.

Tanned skin, but not quite; almost like sand in a desert, the perfect mixture of light and dark. The tiniest wisps of brunette hair with roots so black they were almost blue. And the eyes - for a moment, Mal felt a surge of pride at her daughter’s eyes. They were green, rather dull and almost hazel, but enough to be certified as green. From the other side of the family, but regardless. At least there was one trait that was similar.

“You look like your mom,” Mal said, in a voice that almost felt like a whisper. “Scarlet,” She uttered the name, feeling it hesitate on her tongue. “Willow,”

Maybe it was a cliche to say that the name sent shivers down her spine, but that was what it felt like. The name was magic. It was perfect - even just the murmur of it got her newborn baby girl to slightly cease with her crying. Truth be told, with no direction to head down, Mal had never given names much thought…

...turns out, there had been no need.

“Your mom was in charge of the pretty first name,” she teased. “Now, it’s my job to give you the embarrassing middle name, okay?”

That would be discussed later. Right now, Mal felt like fainting and floating at the same time. The white walls smothered her, but she clutched her child closer as she was led further down the corridor - where the rest of the hospital beds lay bare and untouched. Yet dead center, in the middle of the row, Evie was laying half-asleep.

Mal couldn’t help but laugh as she stepped forward and wiped away a streak of ruined mascara. “Surprised you didn’t reapply your makeup before letting me in,” she teased.

Evie huffed in her daze, eyes fluttering open. “Hey,” she murmured.

“Hi,” Mal whispered, leaning in to place a kiss on her wife’s forehead. “So, Willow here’s already quite the heartbreaker,”

“Ben can’t keep his mouth shut,” Evie mumbled. The statement turned into a gasp at it’s last word, and she gawked at the newborn for a minute. “She takes after my side,” She sighed, letting the baby girl’s tiny fist grip at her hospital gown.

Mal smiled, simply watching the scene and honestly, heart-melting scenes were worth it.

There were a few moments of fawning over their newborn daughter, little Willow, before Evie looked up with sincerity in her tired eyes.

“She’s yours, remember that,”

Mal blanked for a second, before nodding slowly. “I know,” she trailed off, her finger trapped in Willow’s other small hand. Babies weren’t as tiny as everyone made them out to be, she realized. “I mean … yeah. She’s mine. I know that, E.”

“M, if there was a way for her to be both of ours,” Evie sighed, unable to find words. But some things were even beyond magic. They knew that.

“Hey,” Mal whispered. “She’s great. She’s almost perfect as you. She’ll just have to become as wicked as me.”

Evie scoffed, scooting over to rest her head on her wife’s shoulder. “Not too much, please,” she retorted.

The same nurse from before tapped on the doorframe, peering in. “Ma’ams? You have a few visitors. There’s a list of them, in fact,” she squeaked, glimmers of fairy dust sparking up. “Some of them are causing quite the ruckus,” There was a soft  _ thud  _ that could be heard and she zipped over, handing the paper to the happy couple before flying out.

“Who invited my mother?” Evie sighed, staring down at the baby girl in her arms. “Don’t  _ ever _ listen to Grandma, sweetheart. You’re already beautiful.”

“I’m going to assume Fairy Godmother was the one who dragged her here,” Mal muttered, skimming through the list. She had asked for the hospital officials to call Jay, Carlos, Ben and yes, Fairy Godmother of all people. Not the entire kingdom of Auradon and then some. “How much you wanna bet Audrey and Belle are gonna try to Princess-ify our kid?”

Evie groaned, sitting up a little - only for Mal to gently keep her down.

With a raised eyebrow, Mal shook her head. “You’re gonna stay here with Willow,” she said. “I’m gonna deal with crowd control.”

She pressed a chaste kiss to her wife’s lips, and easily wrestled her finger out of her daughter’s grasp. Okay, so this was the happy ending that had occurred before her time? Definitely not. But Mal knew that she wouldn’t have it any other way, and neither would Evie. Princes and poisons be damned. They both had a little Princess to look after now.

In fact, Princess Willow Raven had a nice ring to it, Mal thought just before she braced herself for the wonderful chaos in the waiting room.

**Author's Note:**

> For those who didn't get the implication, Ben was the donor. Comments are always greatly appreciated! :)


End file.
